Mark H. Wilson is a highly-accomplished triathlete and coach with more than 20 years of experience. As an athlete, Mark has achieved success as an Ironman 70.3 World Championship Finisher and was a seven-time finisher in the Ironman USA Lake Placid with a P.R. of 10:59:40. Other career highlights include eight-time finisher in the S.O.S (Survival of the Shawangunks), Escape from Alcatraz Qualifier – Westchester Triathlon and he was also a six-time USAT All-American.

Being a competitive runner since the age of 12, Mark was excited about the prospect of being as fit as the triathletes he had seen in national magazines. They seemed like the fittest people on the planet. Having already done several marathons, it seemed feasible to Mark to jump right into the half-distance triathlon; it went very well and lead to a lifelong interest/profession in the sport.

As a professional coach, Mark has performed countless triathlon training camps all over the United States as a USAT Level I and lI Certified Coach and thousands of hours of individual training with more than one thousand athletes. His coaching honors run the gamut and include Ironman Triathlon World Championship, Ironman 70.3 World Championship, ITU Olympic Triathlon World Championship, ITU Sprint Triathlon World Championship, Lifetime Fitness National Championship, USAT Age-Group All-Americans, ITU World Championship Qualifier – Athena Champion, and USAT Ironman National Championship – Athena Champion, as well as Hudson Valley Magazine 2008 Triathlon Coach of the Year, just to name a few.

Mark is also a Professional Life Coach and the Founder/President of the Hudson Valley Triathlon Club, which has more than 100 annual members. His contagious positive energy and passion for triathlon has made him one of the most beloved coaches in the sport. One of Mark’s coaching mantras perhaps sums it up best: Participating in the sport of triathlon and HVTC may cause radiant health and spiritual well-being.

Through his uncanny motivational and training skills, Mark has inspired hundreds of athletes to pursue their dreams and personal goals. It is this very reason why Tom Struzzieri, HITS, Inc. President & CEO, was moved to joined forces with Mark to introduce the all-new HITS Triathlon Series. The combination of Tom’s skills in the world event management and Mark’s endless knowledge of triathlon make them a perfect duo to bring forth a fresh, innovative concept that will engage existing athletes and help to inspire new ones to grow the sport.

From the minds of Tom Struzzieri and Mark H. Wilson, we are proud to introduce the HITS Triathlon Series: A distance for everyone!^TM

A great Monday night discussion on various training topics.

Race Report 2-8-10 from Jeff Kline on Vimeo.

Consecutive Days Run: 24

Runner: Brandon Wood

Shoes: Sir Isaac Guidance Trainers

Location: New York, NY

Type of Run: Hard

Time of Day: 6:17 PM EST

Distance Run: 13.1 miles

Time Run: 01:35:20

Average Pace: 7:13 per mile

Weather Conditions: Cold-ish (37 degrees Fahrenheit), overcast

Disposition: Good

Link to Run Detail: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/23138087

About the Run: Today was the New York Road Runners Manhattan Half-Marathon, part of the NYRR Half-Marathon Series presented by Continental Airlines. If you’ve been following my posts, you know that my goal time was 1:35:00. Well, I am happy and proud to say that I ran a PR of 1:35:19! My previous PR was set in the first half of the 2009 Philadelphia Marathon in a time of 1:44:38. That makes toda’s half-marathon a PR for me by OVER NINE (9) MINUTES!!

First and foremost, I must give massive thanks to my support team. My coach, Jeff, who kicked me into gear in relatively little time. And also an enormous thank you to the one and only Laminator who paced me the entire way, keeping me going the entire time.

The race course was roughly two and a half loops of Central Park. For those that have run the full loop of Central Park before, you know that to call it a challenging course is somewhat of an understatement. This particular race began at roughly West 63rd Street on West Drive heading in a counter clockwise direction. This means that the runners got to feel the full fury of Cat Hill as well as Harlem Hill, and ALL the little bastard hills in between.

The goal for the race was to maintain a consistent effort for the entirety of the race. I honestly don’t have too much to say for the first half of the race. Cat and Harlem Hills seemed to cruise by, though the smaller hills just after them definitely reminded me to be humble. Lam maintained such a poised, relaxed posture that it really rubbed off on me, keeping me calm.

Once we got into the second loop, Cat Hill came up fairly quick. The weather held together nicely and was nice and cool, but by the second loop, I was definitely feeling hotter than I would have liked. I opened the zipper of my shirt (Sugoi Mid-Zero Zip) to let some air in and felt a lot better. At about mile seven, I took my Gu Roctane as I had planned. I felt decent through Cat Hill, but definitely felt the effort. The hills following the Cat though, ate their way into me. I noticed my breathing becoming much faster than I would have liked and at the same time, while my technique held together well, my stride turnover slowed considerably, thus making my legs work more than usual.

As we dropped down the hill in the Northeast corner of the park, by Lasker Pool, feelings of trepidation and a small touch of dread came over me know what lay ahead. As we hit Harlem Hill, I did my best to take deep, full breaths to get my heart rate as calm as possible. The first part of the hill was OK, but as we got to the small plateau-ish area before the next rise, I could feel my heart going into my zone 5 rate and my breathing speeding up accordingly.The next rise was pure agony and I have honestly never come so close to vomiting during a race. The next couple of miles, until we got to about mile 12, I honestly don’t remember much, except keeping my eyes on Lam and just moving forward.

Once we hit mile 12, Lam told me to count my strides to 100 to make it go by easier. I tried this, but my brain wasn’t working so well and I kept losing count after about 20 or so. I guess Lam noticed this and he began counting out loud so I could hear him and it really helped. As we entered the last half mile, he was pushing me to really go for it and, to be honest, I just didn’t have anything left. At some point, eve though I refused to look at my watch, I knew I wasn’t going to go sub-1:35:00, but I just kept pushing as much as I could. As we crossed the finish line, I thought I was going to fall over but held on to Lam (Thanks!) and managed to keep myself upright.

I had a great race, and I made (for the most part) my goal time. I truly believe that, had this been a less difficult course, I could have gone much faster and not felt like I was dying late in the race. Lam was an absolutely amazing person to take me to the line and I cannot thank him enough.

Brunch afterward was fantastic, with so many new friends having a great meal together and a great time. Thanks to Michelle for handling the reservations for our get together! So many PR’s were set by so many friends, and all were celebrated, PR or no. What a fantastic race!

Official Results Link